


A Roof Over His Head

by Pigzxo



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst, Asexual Character, Gen, Homelessness, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Sharing a Bed, Truth or Dare, also like the slightest hint of jarchie but not enough to worry about, and i made his back story darker b/c apparently i'm Satan, so much fucking angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-18
Updated: 2017-02-18
Packaged: 2018-09-25 05:52:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9805481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pigzxo/pseuds/Pigzxo
Summary: Jughead asks if he can crash on Archie's couch for the night after the drive-in shuts down. (AKA the obligatory Jughead-gets-adopted fic.)





	

Jughead walked down the hallway half-listening to Archie as he rambled on about whatever he was worried about. Jughead knew he’d heard it all before – Archie pretty much hadn’t stopped talking about Miss Grundy since she’d left – so he didn’t feel too bad about tuning him out. He had his own problems to deal with. Like where the hell he was going to sleep that night.

            He hummed in agreement when Archie asked a question about something or other. Apparently not the right course of action because then Archie started to stare at him. “What?” Jughead said.

            “Can I see it?”

            “See what?”

            “The math homework,” Archie said. “You just said I could copy it.”

            “Oh, right. I didn’t do it.”

            Archie gave him a curious look that Jughead did his best to avoid by staring at his feet. The soles of his sneakers were starting to tear off and he’d been having an internal debate with himself all week on whether or not he should buy new ones or just duct tape them back together and save up until he could get another job.

            Archie jostled his shoulder. “You all right, man?”

            “Yeah, sorry. Just... thinking.” Jughead bit his lip, swallowed a sigh, and played a card he really hated to play. Especially since he and Archie had just gotten back on good terms. “Hey, Arch? You think I could crash on your couch tonight?”

            “Sure,” Archie said. “Why?”

            Jughead shrugged. “You know, Jellybean’s got this big solo in her choir concert and ever since she won the part she _will not_ stop singing and I really need to get some sleep tonight before the Bio test tomorrow.”

            Archie smiled. “She got the solo? Really?”

            Jughead rolled his eyes. “Choir director must be fucking deaf, but yeah. She got it.”

            “Can I come?”

            He shrugged, looked away. Panic bubbled in his stomach but he did his best to play it off. “Yeah, of course. Not quite sure when it is, but I’ll check and get back to you.”

            They walked a few more steps in silence and Jughead hoped he could get to class without Archie asking anymore questions. Jughead had never been a bad liar; he just tended to use a lot of details when he lied. And the more details he used, the harder it was to keep track of what he’d said. He made a mental note to write down Jellybean’s supposed choir solo before he forgot about it completely.

            “Is this about the drive-in shutting down?” Archie said out of nowhere.

            Jughead glanced up. Too fast. Too shocked. Fuck. “What? No. Why would you think that?” He forced himself to breathe, to give Archie his most confused look. Archie didn’t know. Archie didn’t know. Archie, for the love of fucking god, _did not know_.

            Archie shrugged. “Just, when we were kids, you only ever asked to sleep over at my house when you were upset about something. And I know that drive-in meant a lot to you, so... come on. You can tell me. Are you sad it’s gone?”

            Jughead scoffed. “We’re not going to talk about our feelings in the middle of a school hallway.”

            “Whatever, man.” Archie clapped him hard on the shoulder and then stepped away. “I’ll see you at lunch?”

            Jughead nodded and breathed a sigh of relief as soon as Archie turned away. He didn’t know what he’d expected from asking Archie for a place to stay – certainly he hadn’t expected Archie to automatically know something was off or to turn him down – but he had a bad feeling about the whole thing now. He shook it off. He should be feeling better. He didn’t have to worry about where he was going to sleep tonight and Archie wasn’t that suspicious. It had turned out all right.

 

Jughead waited for two hours after school ended before heading over to Archie’s. It was under the pretense of “going to grab his stuff from home” but in reality, pretty much everything he owned was currently stuffed in his locker. Once enough time had passed – and really, he’d let too much time pass – he left the school and headed towards Archie’s place.

            He knocked on the door at a little past five and smiled when Fred opened the door. For a few minutes he suffered through adult-teenager small talk – How was school going? How was his dad? What was he spending all his time writing? – before Archie came to the rescue. He excused them both, grabbed the takeout from the kitchen, and pulled Jughead up to his bedroom.

            “Sorry about that,” Archie said as he flopped down on the end of his bed. “I was finishing up some homework.”

            “Bullshit.” Jughead dropped into the desk chair and swung around. Narrowing his eyes, he fixed Archie with his best suspicious look and smirked. “You were wasting time talking to a girl, weren’t you?”

            Archie tossed a bag of food at him. “Shut up.”

            Jughead pulled his legs up so he could sit cross-legged in the chair. Resting the bag between his legs, he opened it and wrapped his hand around a burger. The warmth felt good against his palm and his stomach grumbled in response. “Whatever,” he said. He took a large bite and spoke with his mouth full. “Who are you after now? Betty’s mom? Veronica’s?” Jughead snapped his fingers. “The math teacher. I knew you were trying to impress her by having the homework done.”

            Archie rolled his eyes but he looked slightly uncomfortable as he dug into his food.

            Jughead swallowed, a weight settling in his stomach. “Hey, I didn’t mean... I know Grundy fucked you up. I didn’t mean to... whatever. I’m sorry.”

            “It’s fine,” Archie said. “I just... miss her.”

            “You shouldn’t.”

            “Yeah. That’s what everyone keeps telling me.” Archie shook his head and put his food to the side. “But it’s not like what everyone keeps saying. She didn’t hurt me. She didn’t do anything I didn’t want to do. And anyways, I went after her. Why should she be punished for that?”

            Jughead blinked. “Because she’s an adult, Arch. And whether you went after her or not, she had the responsibility to stop you.”

            Archie sighed. “You don’t get it.”

            “I do. Actually.” Jughead swallowed what was in his mouth and met Archie’s eyes. “I know what you’re feeling. You’ve told me everything that happened, every little detail, right? There’s nothing you left out?”

            Archie shook his head.

            “Then here’s what I know, from an impartial perspective. She manipulated you. She guilted you into keeping your mouth shut. She threatened you with jail time when you did nothing wrong. She’s a grown woman who took advantage of you. And I’m really sorry that happened to you, Arch. I was a really shitty friend.”

            Archie’s forehead wrinkled and he shook his head. “No, you weren’t. You did everything I asked. You protected me.”

            “I did fucking nothing,” Jughead said. “I just let it happen. A good friend would have called the cops the second you said anything about it.”

            “She didn’t do anything wrong!”

            “She raped you.”

            Archie opened his mouth to protest and then closed it abruptly. He looked down at the food in his lap, at his shoes on the floor. “I don’t want to talk about it,” he said, voice pitched low.

            Jughead nodded even though he knew Archie wasn’t looking. He went back to his burger, trying to chew slower, to make the most of the silence. Maybe forcing Archie to come to terms with what had happened wasn’t the best idea. He really had to Google what to do in this situation because he had no fucking clue. He knew Fred had set up an appointment with a therapist and even though Archie really didn’t want to go, he would be forced to one way or another. Jughead took the last bite of his burger and washed it down with a long sip of soda.

            “Have you found a new job yet?” Archie said.

            “Hmm?” Jughead shook his head and pushed the chair so it spun in a circle again. “Not yet. Nowhere seems to be hiring.”

            “I’m sure Pop would hire you in an instant. You’re his best customer.”

            “And I’d prefer to stay that way. Pop’s is like my home away from home. I don’t want to go there to work.”

            “Fair enough.” Archie took a sip of his soda. “You really okay about the drive-in closing?”

            “It is what it is.”

            “Yeah, but, come on. Your family used to go there all the time. I remember when you were little you’d look forward to Friday not because it was the end of the school week, but because it meant your family was going to the drive-in.” Archie laughed. “I remember, with vivid detail, how upset you were when you hit your growth spurt in sixth grade and no longer comfortably fit into the trunk of the car. You just kept _crying_.”

            “Shut up.” Jughead chucked a fry at him. “I did not.”

            “You did. I was there. Actually, you burst into tears in the middle of a science lesson on rockets and started blubbering about how it just really scared you to think about going to the moon—”

            “Stop!” Jughead couldn’t stop laughing as the memory played in his head. It was probably the most embarrassing thing he’d ever done which meant it was burned into his brain second by second. He could almost remember the exact words he’d said. “Okay, fine. I’m a little upset that the drive-in’s about to be destroyed, but I’ll get over it.”

            “We had a lot of good times there.” Archie smiled as he chewed on his straw. “You had a lot of good times there. A lot of memories.”

            Jughead shrugged. “Not all good memories. I mean, looking back, it’s kind of fucking sad, isn’t it? My parents didn’t have enough money to buy four tickets. I spent a lot of time in the trunk of my dad’s car. All I remember about most of the movies is my mom putting her hands over my eyes when something scandalous happened.” Jughead forced a short laugh. “I’d prefer to not remember.”

            “Yeah, but, it has to be better to remember her like that than—”

            “Like how I found her?” The words came out sharper than Jughead intended them to and Archie quickly retreated from the conversation. Jughead forced himself to breathe, pushed the memory back into the depths of his mind. First his most embarrassing moment and now his most traumatizing one. So far staying at Archie’s had been a bad idea. Jughead whispered, “I don’t want to talk about it.”

            Archie nodded and they sat in relative silence for a long time. Archie finished his food. Jughead sipped at his soda until all he had left was slowly melting ice cubes. He took off the lid and poured a few ice cubs into his mouth, started to chew. Archie balled up his trash and threw it into the trash can across the room. A perfect shot. Jughead snorted.

            “Let’s cut the heavy shit,” Archie said. “You wanna play truth or dare?”

            Jughead gave him a pitying look. “This isn’t a sleepover, Arch. And we’re not junior high school girls.”

            “Humour me.”

            Jughead rolled his eyes. “Fine. Truth or dare?”

            “Dare.”

            “Send a dick pic to Reggie.”

            Archie burst out laughing. “That is not happening.”

            “Why not? It’ll freak him out, which is a win, and then you can tell him it was an accident and meant for someone else and he’ll spend the next month congratulating you on getting some.” Jughead shrugged. “Or, better yet, don’t tell him it was an accident and act all offended that he didn’t like it and he won’t talk to you for the rest of your life.”

            Rolling his eyes, Archie pulled out his phone. “Fine. But I’m not taking a picture of my dick. I’m picking a random one off the internet.” He tapped a few buttons on his phone and then dropped it by his side. “Now we wait.”

            His phone buzzed almost immediately.

            Archie checked it and laughed. “He says, and I quote, ‘What the fuck, Andrews? Tell me you hit the wrong contact or I’ll fucking kill you.’” He smiled down at his phone for a long moment, typed a response, and then waited. He laughed again. “Oh, he did not like that.”

            “What’d you say?”

            “I said of course it was for someone else, but now that you’ve seen it, how’d you like it?” Archie met Jughead’s eyes. “He texted back gibberish in all caps. Bet you he blocked my number.”

            Jughead smiled.

            “Truth or dare?” Archie said.

            “Truth.”

            “You got a crush on anyone?”

            Jughead rolled his eyes. “Seriously? Are you trying to act like a prepubescent girl?”

            “Just a question,” Archie said. “You never tell me about those kinds of things.”

            “Because I don’t have those kinds of things.”

            “What?”

            Jughead shrugged. He popped another fry in his mouth. “I’ve never had a crush. Don’t really see the appeal either.”

            Archie made a face but let it drop. His phone buzzed again and he checked it before getting up and heading over to the window.

            “Betty?” Jughead said.

            “Yeah.” Archie was typing. “She’s been checking up on me every night. I think she’s still worried I hate her after what her mom did.”

            “For once, Alice Cooper did something right,” Jughead said. “Why blame her?”

            Archie ignored that comment. “She wants to know who I’m talking to. You care if she knows you’re here?”

            “Why would I?”

            He shrugged. “You two just seem pretty chummy lately, so—”

            “Fuck off.” Jughead groaned. “Are you really trying to pawn Betty off on me so that you can go after Veronica guilt free? Because, I’m telling you, that’s a pretty shitty thing to do to your best friend.”

            “You mean you or Betty?”

            “Betty. God help the person who dates me.”

            “Person?” Archie arched an eyebrow at him, his eyes only leaving his phone for a second as he leaned back against the window. “You know, you can tell me if you’re gay. I don’t care.”

            “I’m not gay.” Jughead turned away and opened Archie’s laptop which had been left open on Cheryl’s Twitter account. He decided not to comment on that. “Anyways, I’m not the one who tried to kiss me two years ago, so—”

            “Fuck you. You know I’d just had my first beer and—”

            “Beer. Great idea.” Jughead swung around to face Archie again. “Where does your dad keep it?”

            Archie shook his head and flopped down on his bed. “Forget it. He counts them and has lines on all the hard liquor.”

            “You can redraw lines.”

            “He’s also probably sitting like three feet from the liquor cabinet. So if you really want him to call your dad and for them to have a parental talk about drinking habits among fifteen year-old boys, be my guest.”

            “Pass.” Jughead exhaled heavily. “Are we still playing truth or dare?”

            “Truth.”

            “Cheryl’s Twitter?”

            “She was on a rampage. I wanted to know why. Truth or dare?”

            “Dare.”

            “Tell Betty I made a pass at you.”

            Jughead snorted. “She won’t believe me.” He already had his phone out though and sent a quick text to Betty: _hey, did I ever tell you about the time Archie tried to kiss me? We should reminisce about how bad he is at it._ A second later, she replied: _Do you guys not have better things to do than childishly prank people?_ Jughead said: _Nope._ Then he looked up at Archie, shrugged. “Told you.”

            Archie frowned.

            “You wanna like actually do your homework or something? It is a school night.”

            Archie smirked. “Because you’re gonna do your homework.”

            “I’m smart,” Jughead said. “I can bullshit it between classes. You? Not so much.”

            Archie threw a pillow at him and got up. He gestured for Jughead to get out of his chair and they switched places. Jughead lay down with his head on Archie’s pillow, stared up at the poster of an Olympic swimmer coming out of the water. He didn’t think too hard about why Archie’d posted that above his bed.

            As the scratch of Archie’s pencil filled the room, Jughead let his eyes close. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d actually laid down on a real mattress. The cot in the drive-in had been his bed for over a year.

            He woke up some time later to the jostling of the bed. Archie was fighting his way under the covers beside him. Jughead mumbled, “Sorry, man. I’ll go sleep on the couch.”

            “Don’t be an idiot,” Archie said. He managed to nestle himself beside Jughead on the narrow mattress. “Go back to sleep.”

            “As long as you don’t try to kiss me again.”

            “Fuck off.” Archie almost pushed Jughead out of the bed as he laughed.

            Silence descended over them, warm and friendly. Jughead wriggled closer to the edge of the mattress to give Archie more room – it was his bed, after all – and let his eyes close again. He could feel Archie’s weight beside him, the gentle lull of his breath. It made it a lot easier to fall asleep.

 

The next day at school, about halfway through first period, Archie texted Jughead to tell him he’d left all his shit at his house. Jughead bit his tongue as he reread Archie’s words. Usually when he left things at Archie’s, he’d just pick them up the next time he was over, no rush. But he really needed his toothbrush and other toiletries and the clothes in his bag. With a sigh, he texted back: _Can I pick it up after class?_

_Yeah,_ Archie replied. _Stay for dinner. Dad’s actually cooking tonight._

Jughead couldn’t find a reason not to accept, so he agreed and headed home with Archie after school. He gathered his stuff up and set his bag by the front door so he wouldn’t forget it when he left. They ended up laughing and talking with Fred over dinner. Jughead made up lies to cover the awkward questions and nodded along to assumptions the Andrews made about his family. After dinner, Jughead lingered and played video games with Archie. Everything was fine until Jughead started to pack up to leave.

            “If you give me a minute, I’ll drive you home, Jug,” Fred said.

            Jughead froze with his hand on the backpack’s zipper. “Umm,” he said, “don’t worry about it. I can walk.”

            “Yeah, but it’s late.” Fred grabbed his keys from the wall. “I’ll give you a ride.”

            “You really don’t need to.” Jughead fought hard to keep his voice under control as Fred started to put on his shoes. “I don’t live too far away and I like the exercise. I mean, I eat way too much anyways. I need to work off the calories somehow.”

            Fred gave him a look. “Jughead, I appreciate that you don’t want to put me out, but it’s really no trouble. And after what happened to Jason, I just don’t feel right letting you wander around in the dark.”

            Jughead nodded. He was sure the panic must have been clear on his face but years of looking skeptical of absolutely everything must have made any other expression he made hard to read. “Sure,” he said. “You can drop me at the school. I can walk from there.”

            “You live in the opposite direction of the school,” Archie said. He had a confused look on his face like maybe Jughead had lost his mind.

            “We moved.”

            “When?”

            “I don’t know. A while ago?” He knew his voice was too sharp, too annoyed. He shrugged. “We never go to my place so it’s not like I had a reason to tell you.”

            “Give me the address and I’ll drop you off there,” Fred said. He had his jacket on now and was headed for the door. “Don’t want it on my hands if you don’t make it home in one piece.”

            “I really don’t think that’s a good idea.” Jughead knew he was scrambling now but he went with the low blow. “My dad hasn’t really forgiven you for firing him and me in your car, well, it just wouldn’t be the best thing for him to see, you know? I can get home fine from the school. I’ll text Archie when I get there.”

            Fred and Archie both stared at him for a long moment. Fred didn’t look like he believed Jughead’s excuse one bit. After all, while Jughead’s dad had been a little mad, he’d invited Fred to a barbeque not even a week later. Jughead bit his tongue while the Andrews stared at him, tried not to shake or speak or do anything else that might give him away.

            “What’s really going on, Jughead?” Fred said. “There’s no bad blood between me and your dad.”

            “Look, I just don’t want you to drop me off, okay? Is that so fucking hard to understand?”

            “Jug.” Archie’s voice was low, shocked.

            Fred looked like he’d been slapped.

            Jughead swallowed hard, tried not to let the tears escape. With a deep breath, he steadied himself and pushed his bangs back under the brim of his hat. “I’m sorry. That was uncalled for. I’d just... I’d really prefer to walk home. Is that okay?”

            Archie nodded but Fred shook his head. He took a step closer to Jughead, concern in his eyes, and said, “I’m not letting you step foot out that door until you tell me what’s wrong, Jughead. What aren’t you telling us? Is something wrong at home? Are you in some kind of trouble? Do you need help?”

            “I’m fine.”

            “Jug,” Archie started, slow, “you said you wished you’d been a better friend to me. And I didn’t want that from you but... maybe it would’ve been for the best. So, if something’s wrong, if you need help, at the very least, give me the chance to do the right thing?”

            Jughead shook his head. “I don’t need help.”

            “Then why won’t you let me take you home?”

            Jughead met Fred’s eyes and immediately felt like a six year old kid again, trying to explain how, after being told _multiple_ times not to play baseball in the house, he and Archie had managed to break a lamp. Except this was worse. Because Fred wasn’t mad at him, he wasn’t going to be mad at him, and Jughead was backed into a corner, forced to confess this time.

            “I don’t have a home,” Jughead said. His voice cracked on the last word and he looked down at his feet as he rushed through the rest of his explanation. “My dad was in debt to the Southside Serpents which is why he was stealing from you and after he was fired, we lost the house and he joined their ranks and Jellybean ran away and I’ve been sleeping in the drive-in for the last year.”

            Silence covered the room. Silence except for the sound of Jughead’s racing heart.

            “I was going to break into the school and sleep in the student’s lounge,” he whispered. “It’s not that bad. They have a nice couch.”

            Still no one said anything. Jughead couldn’t bring himself to look up. He didn’t want to see what Fred looked like. Did he blame himself? It wasn’t his fault Jughead’s dad had fallen in with a bad crowd. Did he pity him? Jughead had kept this secret because he didn’t want anyone to pity him. And Archie? Jughead couldn’t imagine what his friend must be thinking, feeling. Did Archie blame himself for not seeing it sooner? Jughead wanted to vomit or rewind time or run out the door before either of them could stop him.

            “Archie,” Fred said finally, “can you go make up the spare bedroom?”

            Jughead looked up to see Archie nod and start off. Then he met Fred’s eyes.

            Fred forced a smile so strained at the edges that his lips were a little white at the corners. He gripped Jughead’s shoulder. “I want you to stay here for as long as you need to. I don’t care if that means you stay here all through high school and into college, you hear me? You are always welcome in my home.”

            Jughead nodded, tried not to cry.

            Then Fred pulled him into a hug and slapped him on the back. “Whatever part I played in this happening to you, I’m sorry.”

            “It’s not your fault. Even with a job, my dad couldn’t have kept the house forever.”

            “Is your sister all right?”

            Jughead shrugged. “I got a postcard a couple of months ago but nothing since.”

            “How old is she? Twelve?”

            “Yeah.”

            “She shouldn’t be on her own.”

            Jughead shrugged again, not really sure what to say. He didn’t know what was up with Jellybean but she seemed okay. If he could take care of himself, she could definitely take care of herself. She’d always been smarter than him, more resourceful, definitely wouldn’t have managed to get backed into the corner he’d just been forced into. He smiled a little thinking about her on her own, probably living a lot larger than he was.

            “We’ll find her,” Fred said. “A kid should have a family. A roof over their head.”

            “The school has a roof,” Jughead mumbled.

            Fred smiled at him, kind of sad, and it made Jughead’s innards twist uncomfortably. Fred cleared his throat. “Well, take off your shoes. You’re not going anywhere.”

            Jughead nodded and slipped off his sneakers. Fred started to walk away and, before he could disappear, Jughead blurted out, “Thank you.”

            Fred looked over his shoulder. “You’re family, Jughead. We take care of our family.”

            Jughead nodded and then quickly looked away. He slipped off his jacket, hung it up, and headed for the basement. He reached the door to the spare room just as Archie finished putting on a pillowcase. He leaned in the doorway, scanned the bare walls. “Not really my aesthetic, here,” Jughead said.

            “I’ll try to convince my dad to let you paint it black,” Archie said.

            They stood a few feet away from each other, saying nothing.

            “You could have told me,” Archie said. “We could’ve done something a lot sooner.”

            Jughead shrugged. “I was thirteen. I asked you to get drunk and you tried to kiss me.”

            Archie smiled weakly. “Well, you’re here now.”

            “Yeah. And I guess this makes you a better friend than I am, so.”

            He laughed and clapped Jughead on the shoulder as he wedged past him in the doorway. “I’m sure you’ll figure out how to make it up to me.”

            Jughead nodded but didn’t turn around to watch Archie go. Instead, he stood in the doorway and stared at his new bedroom. It was filled with reject furniture and Archie’s art projects from elementary school. The walls were white, there wasn’t much room, and there was no desk. But, Jughead supposed, it was a warm, safe bed in his best friend’s house. After years without such luxuries, he found it hard not to let a tear escape. Then he collapsed onto the bed and started to cry in earnest.


End file.
